The present invention generally relates to an error reduction assembly and to a method for reducing errors in the performance of a certain function or operation and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for determining whether a certain function or operation has been or is being performed in a desired manner and for providing sensory stimulation signals which are indicative of that determination.
It is frequently required, as part of an overall assembly or manufacturing process, to have operators perform several manual tasks, such as to manually place material, such as an adhesive, upon an object, such as and without limitation a portion of a vehicle. Specifically, in this material deposition operation, it is frequently desired to have only a certain amount of the material deposited upon the object or to have the deposited amount of material fall within a certain predetermined range or deposition tolerance in order to optimally achieve a desired function or goal while minimizing the amount of wasted material, thereby reducing overall cost and producing an item having desired characteristics or attributes.
Due to the vast number of personnel required to typically perform various manual operations within an assembly or manufacturing process and due to the wide dissimilarity of the respective skills of these operators, manual operations, such as placing material upon an object, are often accomplished in an undesirable manner, thereby increasing the overall cost of assembly or manufacturing by causing the production of undesirable items or by requiring certain parts or portions which are used within the assembly or manufacturing process to be discarded as waste and the operation to be again completed with other supplied portions or parts. Moreover, the errant or undesired nature of the operation is typically not discovered (e.g., the operation is not monitored) when it occurs. Rather, undesirable attributes or characteristics of the manufactured assembly or product are typically discovered only after the entire manufacturing or assembly process is completed, thereby further increasing the cost of rectifying these difficulties. It is therefore desirable to allow manual operations to be accurately and desirably accomplished within an overall manufacturing or assembly process, effective to consistently provide or create products having desired characteristics or attributes.
One approach to address these difficulties requires the use of robots or other automated assemblies to replace assembly or manufacturing personnel. While this approach does address the forgoing drawbacks, it requires a relatively large initial capital expenditure and periodic and relatively costly maintenance and repair operations. May of these other strategies also require a relatively large training time, thereby further increasing the overall cost of the manufacturing process. The present invention overcomes some or all of the foregoing drawbacks without the use of robots or other automated assemblies and/or machinery and, by way of example and without limitation, allows an operator to quickly learn the manner in which a certain manual operation is to be performed.
It is a first non-limiting advantage of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus which is adapted to reduce errors within an assembly and/or a manufacturing process and which overcomes some or all of the previously delineated drawbacks of prior strategies and methodologies.
It is a second non-limiting advantage of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for allowing a manual operation to be accomplished in a consistently desired manner by a variety of individuals.
It is a third non-limiting advantage of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for monitoring the manner in which an operation is being accomplished and for providing a positive feedback signal which is indicative of the manner in which the operation is being accomplished, thereby allowing operators to efficiently learn how to accomplish a certain operation or task in a desired manner while concomitantly reducing the occurrence of errors within the process.
According to a first non-limiting aspect of the invention, an error reduction assembly which monitors the performance of a certain operation is provided. Particularly, the error reduction assembly provides a first indication when the certain operation has been performed in a certain manner and provides a second indication when the certain operation has failed to be performed in the certain manner.
According to a second non-limiting aspect of the present invention, a dispenser assembly is provided and includes a supply of material; a pumping assembly which is coupled to the supply of material; a metering assembly which is coupled to the pumping assembly; an applicator which is coupled to the metering assembly; and a display assembly which is coupled to the metering assembly, which determines whether at least a portion of the supply of material has been dispensed in a desired manner, and which provides a positive indication of the determination.
According to a third non-limiting aspect of the present invention, a method for increasing the likelihood that an amount of material residing within a certain predetermined range will be deposited upon a portion of a vehicle is provided. Particularly, the method includes the steps of depositing material upon the portion of the vehicle; measuring the deposited material; and providing a sensory stimulation signal when the amount of the deposited material is outside the certain predetermined range; and providing a second sensory stimulation signal when the amount of the deposited material is within the certain predetermined range.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon a reading of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention and by reference to the following drawings.